I am trying the best I can to capture each and every moment worth mentioning, but it will probably still feel like a water-down list of summary just because so many things happened.
Thursday-
I felt really excited about the trip before it even started. When I finally landed in Tokyo, I started feeling the impending realization of what is about to happen. For the time period between I settled on doing the Light Fellowship and now, I have not yet thought carefully on the what to expect in Japan. I thought I would do great, and it would just be like a trip to Florida or something. However, as I came down from the plane, the immediate experience with immigration control and customs made me feel isolated and lost. This is a country that I have never been to, with a language that I don't really know how to speak. I was scared for a second, but I regained my composure quickly when fellow Yalies came into the picture. I still had friends, and together, rather than alone, I shall take on the challenge of penetrating into a foreign culture.
I went to sleep quickly on Thursday in preparations for the diagnostic test. Even though I knew to my heart that it probably would not determine that much of my reputation in the academy, I had to leave a good first impression.
I wanted to visit Club eX in the Shinagawa Prince hotel, the hotel in which our language academy generously reserved rooms for us. However, jet lag got the best of me, and I had to settle for a good night's sleep.
Friday
-- The test didn't go that bad at all. Although it tested many things that I have not learned in class, I felt that I performed well. It was enough to justify a night out partying. So we went out to Roppongi, Tokyo's clubbing nucleus, for a Light Fellows' bonding experience.
The bars were just like in America, the people- an entirely different world. Let me begin by reiterating a famous saying- "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
Japanese people look reserved and cautious, but that's only for the show on the streets. Go to any Japanese bar or club, and you will find the contrary. These people are wild and crazy; they crave for a good time. We danced until around 12 AM and left for the last train. It was a great time, and I jumped into bed without taking my clothes off.
Saturday
-- No classes.
We went to Roppongi again, and it was pretty much the same thing except wilder and crazier. I was actually approached by a Japanese girl. Never have I had this experience, where I didn't have to do anything, and a girl comes to me. I didn't know what to think of it, and later decided that it was not really as cool as I imagined it to be.
I later talked to some other girls sitting at a table, and fully expressed my inability to generate comprehensible sentences in Japanese. Surprisingly, they said that I was "zyoozu", which meant skilled. I felt very flattered, but I didn't think that they were telling me the truth.
We decided that the partying should conclude at 3 AM, but felt hat it was too expensive to take a taxi back. So we stopped over at a Ramen place and enjoyed some mid-night, or shall I say early morning, snack. I came out of the store and notice immediately that dawn was quickly approaching. I take a look on the street and notice that Roppongi is livelier than ever at 4 AM in the morning. Never had I witness this before. Even in Time Square, at 4 AM, the streets will seem more deserted than at day time, but Roppongi is somehow more crowded now than in the day. Another Light Fellow, already experienced with Tokyo-style partying, told me that the night starts at 12 AM and ends whenever you want it too. I now truly admired the spirit of the Japanese for whatever it is that they do- cars, video games, and now- partying.
I had a lot of fun, and again came back home and fell asleep without taking any of my clothes off.
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